No Winter Wonderland likely for Toronto, Vancouver on Christmas

Toronto
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It seems when a lot of Canadians open their presents on Christmas morning, they won't find a Winter Wonderland waiting outside for them. Environment Canada said many parts of the country will be green instead of white.

Winter officially arrives Friday at 6:11 a.m., but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of Old Man Winter weather arriving any time soon, at least in Ontario and British Columbia anyway. Although flurries have been seen across the Greater Toronto Area, a blizzard doesn’t seem rather likely in the near future.

Environment Canada’s David Phillips told the Canadian Press that those living in Western Canada, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Eastern Canada, like Ottawa, Montreal and Prince Edward Island, will have a very good chance of a white Christmas, but for most parts of Ontario, British Columbia and elsewhere, there isn’t any likelihood that a heavy snowfall will occur.

“There are some areas in Canada that are clearly a done deal,” said the nation’s top weatherman. “Out west, not only is it going to be a white Christmas, it's going to be a white Easter. They've been buried in snow.”

Since 1955, when the environmental statistics agency kept track of weather data, the odds of having a Christmas morning filled with snow has been on the decline as each year passes, especially in the last 20 years.

“We have this reputation. We are known as the Cold White North. But I don't think we're as cold and white as we once were,” explained Phillips. “Our reputation is being undermined. Winter is not … what it used to be. It was more of a done deal. It was more of a guarantee.”

According to the Weather Network, the weather forecast predicts a sunny Christmas and two degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit) for Toronto. Vancouver is slated to have the same type of holiday weather.